Communication networks are a tool for sharing information and processing capacity among many computers. These networks, which are increasingly reliant on sophisticated hardware and software resources, enable people to perform many computing tasks that would be impracticable or impossible without them.
Despite the benefits of these networks, they are not infallible, and errors can and do occur. In information technology nomenclature, an incident refers to an unplanned failure of a component or service, which disrupts or degrades the provision of services. In a communications network, incidents can result from problems with hardware components, software, firmware, or virtually any other conceivable component in the network and including human users and administrators of the network. In addition to such problems, incidents can arise from deliberate actions by hackers, malware, and viruses, as well as accidental or planned exposure of private information by human users of a network or from outside the network.